Football hasn't been ruined. Running backs aren't in danger of extinction.

I’m in favor of the NFL’s decision Wednesday to outlaw the use of the crown of the helmet in the open field. However, many reacted with disgust to the rule change. Like Bears running back Matt Forte, who vented on Twitter.

Wow so they really passed that rule...last time I checked football was a contact sport. Calling bank now to set up my lowering the boom fund

Wow so they really passed that rule...last time I checked football was a contact sport. Calling bank now to set up my lowering the boom fund

This rule will not break Forte. Nor will it break the NFL.

Don’t panic. If this rule results in a plethora of penalties, or proves too difficult to officiate, or becomes hazardous to the welfare of running backs, or actually makes droves of people stop watching games, the NFL will reverse field or make adjustments. Why? Because the league still pays major attention to the bottom line—money, which is linked to its huge popularity. The NFL isn't going to lose a measurable portion of its fan base by enforcing a helmet rule if it is flawed or seriously taints the game.

Remember how quickly the referee lockout was settled once the Packers-Seahawks fiasco took place? The league’s credibility had become a joke. Suddenly, the lockout was over. Even the infamous Tuck Rule, one of the most criticized rules in the game, was eliminated Wednesday after 11 years. Now, if a quarterback loses control of the ball before he has fully protected it after opting not to throw, it is a fumble.

I don’t anticipate helmet rule change resulting in debacle similar to the officiating disaster. This is a step toward discouraging players from using their helmet as a weapon. That's a good thing. You can't talk about increasing player safety without rule changes toward that end.

This rule will be a point of emphasis throughout training camp. Coaches will school running backs about the do's and don’ts. Coaches will adjust. Players will adjust. Referees will adjust and look for blatant infractions before throwing a flag.

According to Rich McKay of the competition committee, the league looked at Week 10 and Week 16 from last season and saw a total of 11 plays during those two weeks that would have resulted in penalties under the new rule. That’s not even two more penalties per week.

McKay said Wednesday the league has taken concern about the rule change from coaches into consideration.

"Some (were) nervous about how it’s going to get coaches up right at the start and some worried about the officiating side of it," McKay said. "Those are all the concerns we’ve heard for a long time. None of them were new revelations, but they were ones that we needed to work through with them, and let them understand our perspective on it. This is a pretty major change, but one that they think can quickly be adapted to by the players."

The NFL is changing. It has to, considering what we've learned about head trauma and the lawsuits the NFL is facing. Roger Goodell is extremely well paid, in fact, well over-paid, to handle this juggling act—overseeing a violent sport and trying to make it safer without making it less popular. People like to see collisions on the field, even though they don’t like to hear stories about former players suffering the aftereffects.

Over the last few days, a replay of Browns running back Trent Richardson barreling into Eagles safety Kurt Coleman and knocking Coleman’s helmet off has been shown on television repeatedly. Some of the violent collisions between running backs and defenders are etched into our memories—Earl Campbell steamrolling Rams linebacker Isiah Robertson with a helmet shot to the chest; Bo Jackson running over Brian Bosworth at the goal line.

Today’s running backs want to be able to run with that same aggression. But now officials will be more closely watching how they use their helmets when lowering their heads. The intent of this rule isn't to make them more passive, but to reduce helmet-to-helmet hits. McKay has served on the competition committee since 1994 and has become used to hearing initial protest, like when the NFL decided to move the kickoff from the 30 to the 35, or instituted the horse-collar rule.

"We view ourselves as a league that has to be a leader in this area," McKay said. "Our hope is always that our rule changes can impact those levels below us.

"I think we’ve had some really good exchanges with the NCAA over the last the four or five years on rules, and on how they’re going about it. I was at a high school a number of years ago, and I remember some woman stood up and screamed, 'That’s a horse collar' and they called it a horse collar. I was like, 'Man, that’s amazing that there’s a horse collar in high school football.' When we make rule changes, we’re trying to push it all the way down and impact the game."

"We’re not going to not allow a runner to protect himself, or to protect the football," said Jeff Fisher, Rams coach and member of the committee. "Over the last day or so, we’ve received a lot of opinions from former running backs, some in favor of this and some opposed to this. I got a phone call from Eddie George. He took the position that this is going to be a difficult thing to enforce, a difficult way to play this game. After a 15-minute conversation, he changed his mind."

Now the NFL will try to convince the critics. But if only the blatant infractions of this rule are flagged, the NFL is making the right call.